Samson Lane

W.W.2.
1923 – 1942

Birth Date: - abt 1923
Served: Iin the Royal Navy
Regimental Number: P/JX 323027
Father: Samson Lane
Mother: Emily Lane
Death Date: 19th June 1942
Cemetery: Naval Memorials, Portsmouth, England

Samson Lane was born in Salisbury, Wiltshire on 9th March 1922; he was the son of Samson Lane and Emily Ayres. His service number P/JX 323027. He served in the British Navy and lost his life at sea on 19th June 1942 on HMS Steam Gun Boat 7.

HMS Steam Gun Boat 7

The Royal Navy Steam Gunboat S307 was built by William Denny & Brothers (Dumbarton, Scotland: Metropolitan Vickers being ordered on 8th November 1940, laid down on 3rd February 1941 and launched on 25th September 1941, commissioned on 11th March 1942 and Lost on 19th March 1942 where she was sunk by gunfire from German surface Vessels in Seine Bay and where Samson lost his life.

The Steam Gun Boat (SGB) was a Royal Navy term for a class of small naval vessels which were used during the Second World War. They consisted of nine gun boats which were powered by steam and built from 1940 -1942 for the Coastal Forces of the Royal navy. There were developed in line with the Fairmile D motor torpedo boats, known as Dog Boats to specifically respond to the whereabouts of the German E-Boats and also as a response to the scarcity of suitable diesel engines.

There were originally 52 boats planned, however only the first batch of 9 were ordered on the 8th November 1940, due to a lack of steel and turbines. Only 7 were actually completed, number 7 being the one that Samson served on. Numbers 1 and 2 were cancelled when their hulls were badly damaged by an air raid in the Southampton area during the Second World War.

A lack of steel and turbines meant that the 52 boats initially planned were reduced to an order of nine boats which received the designations SGB 1 to 9. Numbers 1 and 2 were cancelled when their hulls were badly damaged by an air raid on the Southampton area.

Shortly after midnight on 19 June, when two vessels - SGB 7 and 8, under the joint command of Lieutenant J. D. Ritchie, in company with the Hunt-class destroyer Albrighton encountered several E-boats escorting two German merchantmen. SGB 7 was sunk in this action; as a consequence the Admiralty noted their vulnerability and refitted them with the additional armour over their engine and boiler rooms. At the same time the six survivors were renamed after wildlife.

Memorial Register
Samson Lane - P/JX 323027 1939-1947

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